Healing From Adrenal Fatigue

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Signs and symptoms of adrenal fatigue

Difficulty in getting up in the morning
Continuing fatigue not relieved by sleep
Craving salt or salty foods
Lethargy
Increased effort to do every day tasks
Decreased sex drive
Decreased ability to handle stress
Increased time to recover from illness , injury or trauma
Light headed when standing up quickly
Mild depression
Less enjoyment or happiness with life
Increase PMS
Symptoms increase if meals are skipped or inadequate
Thoughts less focused and more fuzzy
Memory less accurate
Decreased tolerance
Feels better after an evening meal
Decreased productivity

No single one of these symptoms gives a definite diagnosis of adrenal fatigue, but taken collectively as a syndrome, they strongly suggest its presence. If many of these seem familiar then you are probably suffering from some level of adrenal fatigue. Although we have come to accept it as such, adrenal fatigue is not part of normal life.

There are no magic pills for adrenal fatigue but there are certainly key lifestyle changes and nutritional supplements that will greatly facilitate your recovery.

Essential Vitamins

Vitamin C

Of all the vitamins and minerals involved in adrenal metabolism, vitamin C is probably the most important. In fact the more cortisol made, the more vitamin C is used. Vitamin C is so essential to the renal hormone cascade and the manufacture of adrenal steroid hormones that before the measurement of adrenal steroid hormones became available, the blood level of vitamin c was used as the best indicator of adrenal function level in animal research studies. Vitamin C is used all along the adrenal cascade and acts as an antioxidant within the adrenal cortex itself.

Vitamin C as it occurs in nature always appears as a composite of ascorbic acid and certain flavonoids. Bioflavonoids are essential if ascorbic acid is to be fully metabolized and utilized by your body. The ratio of bioflavonoids to ascorbic acid should be approximately 1:2, that is 1mg. Of bioflavonoids for every 2mg. Of ascorbic acid. Bioflavinoids basically double the effectiveness of ascorbic acid in your body and allow its action to be more complete. The kind of vitamin C you use makes a difference. Vitamin C is much more than ascorbic acid.

Most ascorbic acid in supplements is synthesized from corn syrup, and some from cane sugar or beet sugar. This not not mean that corn syrup and sugar contain any vitamin C, they do not. It simply means that these are the raw materials most commonly used to commercially manufacture vitamin C. Some people are sensitive to the source from which the vitamin C supplement has been derived. If you are sensitive to corn, try taking a vitamin C supplement from palm or beets instead, as this tends to be better tolerated. And why its important to get your supplements via a practitioner and scripted, rather than just over the counter.

Because vitamin C is water soluble and quickly used up or excreted from your body, it should be consumed several times per day. You should consult with your practitioner how many times is suitable for yourself.

Vitamin C not only increases adrenal function, but also stimulates the immune system. If you feel yourself starting to come down with a cold or respiratory infection, start taking extra vitamin C at the first signs of distress. This not only assists your immune system in fighting the infection, but it helps your adrenals to respond to the stressful situation in your body created by the infection.

This is when you need to be forward thinking;

If your household and kids get sick
If you know you're going to be up late working on an assignment or a work issue
If you're going through an emotional time of distress
If you've been eating poorly

Then think ahead and take additional vitamin C. Humans do not have the ability to convert blood glucose into vitamin C as do most animals.

Therefore, we must obtain our vitamin C from an outside source. Food sources of vitamin C include basically all coloured fruits and vegetables and is easy to attain when consuming a wholefoods plant-based intake. We were designed to have a diet very high in vitamin C.

However, nowadays the amount of vitamin C available in foods is not sufficient to support your adrenals during stress or during the recovery phase. So if you are hyperadrenic, it is essential that you take a supplement containing sufficient vitamin C during the whole recovery period and extra vitamin c when you start to become fatigued or ill.

Shall I just eat lots of oranges? Well no, there is actually a myth about the amount of vitamin C in oranges. Oranges are typically harvested in the US in the late fall and early winter. By February after two months of storage, only a small percentage of the original amount of vitamin C remains. In addition, the bioflavonoids in the fruit are found mostly in the white part on the inside of the rind that is usually not eaten.

Cautions with how much vitamin c - as you take more vitamin C your body adapts to this higher level of vitamin C. Therefore , when decreasing your intake, you've got to do it gradually. Some symptoms of dropping your vitamin c too fast can include bleeding and swollen gums, and bruising easily too. It takes twice as long for your body to adapt to the decrease in vitamin c versus an increase in vitamin c Same goes for breastfeeding mothers who are taking vitamin c or even during pregnancy - you'll need to gradually wean yourself and baby off.

If you are on blood thinners, then you've got to monitor blood clotting as the increased vitamin c may require you to lower your medication dosage. Vitamin C works well with vitamin e and other antioxidants to decrease blood clotting.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is such an interesting vitamin in adrenal fatigue. Technically it's not really required for any part of the adrenal hormone manufacturing cascade, yet it is essential, indirectly, in at least six different enzymatic reactions. This is because the manufacture of adrenal hormones generates substances called free radicals that can create great damage inside the cells if they are not controlled. An excess number of free radicals slow down the enzymatic reactions and, carried to the extreme, can do physical damage to the adrenal cell structure. Vitamin E absorbs and neutralizes these damaging free radical molecules inside the adrenal glands and elsewhere. Vitamin C enhances vitamin E’s activity inside the cell by regenerating the capacity of vitamin E to sequester the free radicals. These two work hand in hand to keep the adrenal cascade functioning. Therefore , high amounts of vitamin E are necessary in order for the adrenals to maintain high levels of steroid production and recover properly.

It's important to choose the right vitamin E supplement. Vitamin E in chemical terms is a “tocopherol”. Most vitamin E supplements sold in health and food and grocery stores are in the form of d-alpha-tocopherol. Although this is a natural form of vitamin E, it is only a fraction of the complete vitamin E complex. It is the least expensive to manufacture and the most profitable.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the majority of companies promote this type of vitamin E, making it the most available type of vitamin E on the market. However, the vitamin E necessary for adrenal regeneration is a mixed tocopherols supplement, specifically one high in beta-tocopherols. Because recent studies have shown that too much d-alpha-tocopherol can actually suppress the beta and other tocopherols necessary for adrenal rejuvenation. So taking a mixed tocopherols vitamin E is critical if you want to restore adrenal health.

B Vitamins

B vitamins - the stress formulas that are composed of equal amounts of most of the B’s are not formulated for the human body to metabolize properly. If you find a B complex from completely natural sources, it will contain a much lower amount of each B vitamin.

Magnesium

Magnesium always steals the show, and she acts like a spark plug for your adrenals and for the energy portion of every cell in your body. It is essential to the production of enzymes and the energy necessary for the adrenal hormone cascade.

Calcium

Calcium is vital to assist the calming and settling of your nervous system and trace minerals such as zinc, manganese, selenium, molybdenum, chromium, copper and iodine alongside a host of other minerals in micro amounts are very important for overall health. Trace minerals can be great on your adrenal journey as they can make you feel less jittery and more tranquil.

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